Big Will; little will

There is a household where two members are called Big Will and little will. Big Will is the dad, and little will is his son. I suppose Will probably is short for William, but there is nothing short about Big Will.

Big Will is undoubtably the head of the house. He makes all the big decisions. What he says goes, and everybody know it. Especially little will. Most of the time.

little will gets to make lots of decisions, every single day. He makes even more decisions than he knows. We all make many decisions without even realizing it, often without even thinking about them. And that’s fine. That’s how things work, just so long as little will’s decisions do not cross Big Will’s decisions.

Now the world is not perfect, and neither is little will. There are times when he is not content to exercise his little will in the areas of freedom that are left to him; areas that do not conflict with what Big Will has communicated. Sometimes, little will wants to give himself a little more room, to make his say-so a little larger. And so, yes, he has violated the will and word of Big Will. That has not gone well.

Now just in case you don’t get it yet, this is a parable. Big Will is clearly God, about whom we sing “This Is My Father’s World.” And little will is you and me. We live in God’s world, and we are His subjects. Whether we recognize it or not, our wills must always act under the umbrella of His will, and when we choose to exercise our wills out from under that umbrella, we get wet, though sometimes God can rain down fire instead of water. When we cross God’s will, there are consequences.

The consequences are not always immediate. They can be delayed. They can be subtle. But they are certain. And if we do not experience consequences this side of death, we are told in Scripture that there is a serious sit-down with God on the other side, and it will be difficult, no, ludicrous, to try and explain a good reason why we replaced His Will with ours when we are confronted by the majesty of God in His glory.

To some, this may sound oppressive. I’m sorry if it sounds that way. Evidently you were raised in a home where you did anything you wanted, and were not taught to obey your parents, because it is that training, in part, that prepares us to respect and obey God.